12 celebrities who are the subjects of famous songs

February 13, 2018

From love songs to revenge anthems here are 12 celebrities who are said to have inspired famous songs.
Celebrity love affairs provide some interesting song material.Weissman/APWho better to inspire celebrity musicians than other celebrities? Thanks to high-profile love affairs, or mere cultural fascination, musicians have a knack for weaving stories and tidbits about their fellow performers — be it other musicians, movie stars, models, or politicians — into their lyrical odes.Sometimes the songs are complementary, sometimes cruel they’re cruel. And sometimes the true identity has never been confirmed, but only guessed at by rabidly curious fans.Here’s a collection of 12 beloved songs that were (or reportedly were) inspired by celebrities.In her autobiography “Wishful Drinking,” the late, great Carrie Fisher said of former husband Paul Simon, “If you can get Paul Simon to write a song about you, do it. Because he is so brilliant at it.” Fisher and Simon married a few months before the release of the song, and the album of the same name it appeared on.Lines like “the bride was contagious” certainly bring to mind the famously eccentric Fisher, and “one and a half wandering Jews” is also a direct reference (Simon is fully Jewish, Fisher is half).It’s been long-suspected that Gabriel’s famous romance track “In Your Eyes” was written about his former girlfriend, Rosanna Arquette, who he lived with for many years.“In Your Eyes” is probably best-known as the song that plays in “Say Anything” when John Cusack holds his boombox above his head for Ione Skye. The director, Cameron Crowe, has said that Arquette convinced Gabriel to let him use it in the film.For decades, the identity of the man in Simon’s famously bitter tune was only speculated about. Many thought Mick Jagger was the vanity-obsessed culprit, though Simon has vehemently denied this.Over the years, the singer has revealed that the song is in fact about three men, and in 2015 confirmed that at least one of the verses is about Warren Beatty, whom she had a brief relationship with in the ’70s. The identity of the other two is still unknown.Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears were the biggest pop couple of the early 2000s. But that all went sour around the release of Timberlake’s first solo album, and he used their breakup as fuel for this famous tune, which also features a Spears lookalike in the corresponding music video.Though initially mum about the lyrics, Timberlake confirmed in a 2011 interview that the song was indeed about Spears, inspired by an argument they had over the phone. Though the specifics were never revealed, the lyrics and music video insinuate that Spears cheated on him.Not one to be overshadowed, Spears wrote her own take on her split with Timberlake. Her songwriting partner, Annet Artani, confirmed that “Everytime” was a direct response to “Cry Me a River,” noting that Spears was especially upset that her little sister had to hear scathing things about her on the radio.Spears admits some wrongdoing in lyrics like “what have I done,” and remorse over the breakup in the chorus. The two never reunited, and the songs now exist as a time capsule of sorts.In the 1970s, Paul McCartney officially dissolved The Beatles as a legal partnership with a successful suit in the London High Court.His response was this song on his 1971 album ” Imagine,” which is full of direct and very obvious references to McCartney. For instance, the lyric “the only thing you done was yesterday / and since you’ve gone you’re just another day” refers to two of McCartney’s songs for The Beatles, “Yesterday” and “Another Day.”Lennon denied any hard feelings towards McCartney, and in 1980 said the song was actually about him .Elton John never met Marilyn Monroe, but one of his most famous songs was inspired by her short and tragic life. Co-writer Bernie Taupin would later say that the song is about “the idea of fame or youth or somebody being cut short in the prime of their life.”When Princess Diana died in 1997, John re-wrote the lyrics in tribute to her and released it as a single.For a long time, Foo Fighters lead singer Dave Grohl denied that “I’ll Stick Around” was referencing Courtney Love, wife of his late Nirvana band-mate Kurt Cobain. The two went through some intense legal and personal battles after Cobain’s death, and the song’s lyric “how could it be I’m the only one who sees your rehearsed insanity” was an assumed dig at Love.In 2009, Grohl finally admitted it was indeed about her.Though they only met in person once, Amy Winehouse and Nas were Skype and text friends, and mutual fans of one another’s work. Winehouse wrote this song, off her iconic album “Back to Black,” in tribute to the rapper, whose full name is Nasir Jones.The lyrics express Winehouse’s regret about missing a Slick Rick concert but her refusal to miss Nas’s show (“nobody stands in between me and my man / cause it’s me and Mr. Jones”). Nas later said of his late friend, “She was like a sister to me.”This one is more speculative than the others on this list, but it seems like a pretty good bet that Morissette’s famous vitriolic song off her beloved “Jagged Little Pill” album is about “Full House” actor Dave Coulier.The lyric “an older version of me” could be a reference to Coulier, who dated Morissette and is 15-years her senior. The line “I hate to bug you in the middle of dinner” also apparently struck a chord with Coulier, who admitted in a 1997 interview that the singer used to do that to him.He’s since denied the song is about him, and Morisette is famously tight-lipped about her subjects, so we may never have full confirmation.Let’s be real: We could fill this entire list with just Taylor Swift songs if we wanted to. But if we have to pick just one, we’ll go with her infamous take-down of Katy Perry.The feud centers around backup dancers on the pop stars’ separate tours. In 2014, Swift told Rolling Stone that someone, “basically tried to sabotage an entire arena tour. She tried to hire a bunch of people out from under me.” In 2017, Perry told James Corden on “Carpool Karaoke” that Swift was alluding to her and the backup dancers were on her tour first. Perry said she gave them permission to work on Swift’s tour before coming back to hers.